Fillmore files motion to block mobile home park lawsuit

The city of Fillmore filed a motion in federal court Monday to dismiss a lawsuit from a mobile home park owner who alleges her attempt to convert the facility to condominiums is being unfairly impeded.

Nancy Watkins, owner of El Dorado Mobile Home Park Estates, wants to convert the property from a seniors-only facility with leased spaces to for-sale parcels for owners and residents of all ages. El Dorado, which has 302 spaces at 250 E. Telegraph Road, is currently limited to residents 55 and older who own their manufactured homes but rent lots.

The city approved the application in December on the condition that the owner submit flood-control plans and comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

In the lawsuit filed against the city last month in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, the plaintiff says the application in 2009 to convert the facility to condominiums followed City Council consideration of a rent-control ordinance sought by "a vocal group of residents in the Park."

The suit alleges that the city planning staff began in April 2009 to make "a series of evolving demands it claimed were necessary to complete the application," but which the applicant thinks were aimed at preventing the park from converting to all ages.

The applicant last year sued in Superior Court in Ventura, resulting in an order narrowing the requirements the city could impose, the suit states.

The suit criticized the City Council's conditions when it approved the application, particularly the environmental-compliance requirement. Ventura County Superior Court Judge Frederick Bysshe made an initial ruling in August that Fillmore had correctly interpreted state law.

The federal suit, however, says the city's community development director already had determined the application was not subject to Environmental Quality Act because El Dorado was an existing facility.

The city has "determined it would take whatever steps it could legally take to delay, impede or deny" the conversion to keep the park from becoming an all-ages property, the lawsuit states. It cites emails from city officials, including one sent in February in which City Attorney Ted Schneider tells "one of the activists in the Park" that being subject to the environmental act might dissuade the applicant from opening El Dorado to all ages.

The lawsuit further argues that settlement attempts were thwarted because the city insisted the park be kept for seniors only. It says the city's actions are discriminatory and violate the U.S. Fair Housing Act because they impinge upon the applicant's right to make housing available to non-seniors.

The city is moving to dismiss the case on the basis of lack of standing, failure to state a claim and failure to exhaust administrative remedies, according to Schneider.

"They have not alleged an actionable injury," he said, adding that there also is a "ripeness" issue because the city hasn't taken final action on the application.

"It's ludicrous that there are any untoward motives behind the council's actions. The city is merely trying to fulfill (its) obligations under state law," Schneider said. "We believe filing a lawsuit is a bullying tactic."

Plaintiff's attorney Mark Alpert of the Santa Ana law firm of Hart, King & Coldren said it's his client who's getting strong-armed.